Behind the Walls and Iron Bars
by Reun
Summary: Being the son of the Saiyan prince and Capsule Corp's president, much was expected of him. However, everyone is bound to have a weakness, and apparently for him it was in the form of a best friend. Takes place during A Blessing That Never Was.


_Author's Note: Hello again, everyone. This story is an attempt to unearth Trunks's hidden personality—we almost never see that side in the manga or anime, so perhaps his character would be a bit off—and it takes place during the Z-fighters' search for Goten in one of my other stories, A Blessing That Never Was. You can think of this as its midquel, interlude, or anything else you like. If you haven't read that story, be aware that there might be some spoilers here. If you have, all mentions of Trunks here refers to Kid Trunks, not his future counterpart._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball / Dragonball Z / Dragonball GT._

_Happy reading!_

* * *

><p>"Let me go, too!" exclaimed a lilac-haired boy with a frustrated tone. He couldn't stand being told to stay while the others were out there, looking for his friend. "I need to find Goten!"<p>

The other Z-fighters didn't know what to do. They knew how badly he wanted to join their search for the missing boy; after all, he had been his best friend since he was born. They had gone through joy and sadness together, tasted sweet victory and bitter defeat together, and even experienced life and death together. It was only natural that he would do anything to bring him back, but at the shaken state he was in now, he would only slow down the progress of the team.

"Trunks, I know you feel you do," said a tall man who would've been an exact doppelganger of Goten if not because of his size. He looked distraught but was trying his best to keep his calm. "I know you want to find him, but you don't need to. We'll do it for you," the man put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "We'll bring him back… somehow."

Trunks roughly shoved Goku's hand away. That was just an empty promise, he knew it! Trunks had been around Goten even longer than his father had; what Goku didn't know, Trunks was bound to know. "No, you won't," he said, "You don't know Goten. You don't know how he thinks and where he could be. I need to go with you!"

"Trunks, cut it out."

He was taken aback by a calm but almost scolding voice. To be honest, he would normally ignore whoever it was, but this time it was the last person in his list whom he thought would talk to him. A beautiful blonde with piercing icy blue eyes loomed before him when he turned around; she was a woman of extraordinary prowess, a mother of one, and the wife of Krillin. Eighteen.

"You will wait here in case Goten returns," she said with an imperative tone which to untrained ears sounded distant and cold, "Besides, I've trusted you to take care of Marron. You wouldn't want to let it go to waste."

That was all Trunks needed to be subdued. With Eighteen being the fifth strongest among them all, he didn't really have any other choice. Vegeta even admitted once that in the past, she had been infinitely stronger than him. Besides, she was a very protective mother; if anything happened to Marron during her absence, she would more than likely blow Trunks away to kingdom come. She was on neither Trunks's nor Goten's list of people to pull pranks on, and they wouldn't take her lightly either. "Tsk, fine," he hissed, finally conceding defeat.

Then came Gohan and he knelt in front of him. The teenager attempted to console him by emulating what his father had done, but just like before he shoved his hand away. This time, however, Gohan managed to notice a different expression in his face; it was faint, but he could have sworn there was a glimpse of fear and shame when he tried to look at him in the eyes.

"You want to find Goten, huh?" asked Trunks who seemed to avoid making eye contact. He gained a silent nod from Gohan. "Then go. But I'm warning you, you can't find him without me."

"Trunks…" the Son boy attempted to approach Trunks who started backing away slowly, but was stopped by Vegeta's gruff voice.

"Let him have his way," the full-blooded Saiyan said, "If you want to find that brat then we better move now. I haven't got all day for this." Quicker than human eyes could follow, he propelled himself to the sky. He wasn't at all willing to help his archrival in his family business, but his mate had forced him to. After all, this missing brat was his son's lifelong best friend.

"Vegeta's right. We can't afford to lose valuable time. Let's go," said Goku. He gained nods of approval from the other Z-fighters and within seconds they were already high in the sky. Two hovercars driven by Bulma and Chichi followed shortly afterward.

Among the rescuers, Gohan was the only one who was still on the ground. He didn't know what to say to the very disappointed Trunks standing a few metres away from him. "I'm sorry, Trunks," not expecting a response from the little kid who was looking away from him, he spoke, his tone sombre, "I can't promise we'll find him, but we'll try our best. That I promise." With that, he took off to join the search for his beloved brother.

Being alone with a little girl on the front porch of the Son's residence left Trunks with no choice but to wait, so he took Marron inside and braced himself for an unproductive day.

* * *

><p>"Where mama?"<p>

"Outside."

"Why?"

"Looking for Goten."

"Why?"

"Marron, be quiet, will ya!"

So far the wait had been boring for Trunks, and it was an understatement. He could have slipped out and went to look for Goten individually, but the presence of Marron was the only thing which prevented him to do just that. This was just great! First he was denied from the search, and now he had to become a babysitter of a three-year-old? This was going to be a long, long day.

Being a little toddler she was, Marron had been a pure nuisance. Her constant nagging and crying were just too much to handle… he couldn't imagine having a baby sibling anytime soon. He decided to let the baby cry herself to sleep and strolled to the kitchen. Intent on satiating his appetite, Trunks opened the food and was surprised to see a huge amount of unprocessed food piling inside. Well… what did you expect? This was essential for a household with not just one, or two as in his case, but three Saiyans.

After a quick scan Trunks decided that other than Marron's small portion of meal—he knew he would get in trouble if he ate it—there was nothing readily edible in the fridge. When he turned to the table, he saw a lunch box and a serving of strawberry daifuku he hadn't seen earlier; Chichi had made it earlier in the morning for him. He opened the lunch box, rejoiced at the sight of beef stew waiting to be consumed, reheated it in the microwave, and voraciously dug in the hearty meal. He would choose to eat Chichi's food over Bulma's any day… it was infinitely better and more filling! But as full as one might be, there was always room for dessert, so he proceeded to eat the daifuku. 'Hmm, so soft… and sweet!' he delighted as he took a small bite out of the round sticky rice cake, 'No wonder Goten likes it so much.'

Yes, strawberry daifuku had always been Goten's favourite. He remembered that time several days ago when they had their lunch after competing against each other in the World Tournament; Goten ordered more than thirty servings of daifuku for his dessert. Trunks, being the more mature of the two, claimed that sweet stuffs were for children and declined when the younger boy offered to share him some. He had no idea the snack was actually this wonderful; all along, he had been missing one of life's little pleasures.

… wait. Why did he end up thinking about this? Thoughts of Goten only made him more and more uncomfortable. Why was it that when everyone else was out looking for him, he had to sit there doing nothing and wait? He shook his head hard to shrug those frustrating thoughts away as he returned to the living room and flopped into the couch.

Trying to fend off the crazy ennui, Trunks turned on the TV set to see if there was anything interesting to watch, but since it was Saturday afternoon almost every channel was broadcasting cartoon shows. Marron, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy one of the shows very much, so he decided to humour her for a while and watched it along. He had always thought cartoons were boring, but it turned out he was able to get a few good laughs from the ridiculous antics pulled by the characters.

Trunks slowly drifted off into sleep and when he regained wakefulness, the cartoon show had been replaced by news program. Marron was leaning to his side, snoring gently, so he carefully laid her on the couch. He had no idea how long he had been knocked out, but it didn't matter. With her asleep, it was time to have fun! He grinned as he walked over to the TV set, rummaged through a collection of video games, and when he found a particular title which he loved so much, he inserted the CD into the black console and turned it on.

It was a battling game where one could choose a character and fight up to three other characters. At first he had fun pounding his opponents to kingdom come, but twenty minutes into the game he realised he was untouchable and too good for the AI, even in the hardest difficulty settings, and got bored. Playing in single player mode was no challenge, and the only person who was able to give him a hard time was Goten. More than often he was able to beat Trunks with little problem and had always been a force to be reckoned with when they were playing this game in multiplayer mode…

Not again! Why did everything have to remind him of Goten? The food he ate, the games he played, the books he read… was it because he was in his house in the first place? Everywhere he looked, an image of the missing boy materialised in his mind. Everywhere turned his ears to, his familiar carefree voice rang inside his head. He couldn't take it anymore! Whatever the others would say upon finding out, he would join their search for Goten, and he had made up his mind. Brimming with determination, he went out to the front porch and readied himself to blast away into the sky…

… but an ear-splitting cry stopped him.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Trunks re-entered the house and found Marron sitting on the floor just in front of the TV, bawling as loud as she could. Now what could a baby need so bad that it made her cry her eyes out like this? Her voice was slowly driving him insane!

"Marron, what is it!" he shouted, but of course it didn't make things any better. She just kept screaming and screaming like a hungry banshee. "Hey, stop crying, will ya! If you don't tell me what you want, then you won't get it!"

"Marron hungry! Marron want eaaaatttt!" she replied with a high-pitched scream.

Well, a hungry banshee she was. Why she hadn't mentioned it earlier was beyond Trunks; children's logic, perhaps? Muttering not-so-good words he picked from Vegeta under his breath, he walked to the kitchen once again to take the baby food out of the fridge. He had no idea what to do with it, so without even bothering to heat it up, he served it to the crying toddler. Her crying stopped upon seeing the bowl of paste-like food, but didn't start eating.

"What? It's not like you can eat just by looking at it, ya know," Trunks mocked. He rubbed his temple, searching for ideas to make this crybaby before him start digging in her food before crying again. "Or… don't tell me you want me to feed you?"

She nodded fervently. Gosh, why was he not surprised? He winced at the thought of feeding her—the son of the Saiyan Prince babysitting the daughter of an android? Really?—but he would do anything to avoid hearing her cry ever again. Besides, she might be pacified enough after the meal and go back to sleep again, giving him a golden opportunity to sneak away. With that in mind, he begrudgingly fed Marron, who looked happier with every spoonful she partook. On Trunks's end, this was slowly getting more and more mundane, until the toddler attempted to start a conversation.

"Trunks?" she called to him, mouth full of food.

"Hmm."

"Where mama?"

Trunks clenched his teeth, not wanting to hear the string of "why"s that would follow if he answered her. "Marron, c'mon. We've been through this—"

"Where Goten?"

Now that was unexpected. Why would she be asking for Goten now? And how would he answer this question? He thought it would be more fitting if he had been the one who asked, because he himself was dying to find out about his whereabouts. If possible, he would very much like to skip this question. "I dunno. Why?" he asked the little girl.

"Marron like when Trunks play with Goten," replied Marron while beaming her innocent look, "It make Marron happy. Trunks and Goten like brother!"

Trunks was taken aback by her remarks. Sure, he was a very close to Goten and he knew it, but not as close as Gohan was to him! Did it seem like they share a brotherly bond or something? "Uh, really? Goten and I are like brothers?"

"Yeah! Trunks like big brother to Goten! Trunks smart!" she continued. Trunks was flattered when she said he was smart, and from others he knew little children didn't lie. "But Goten also cute. Marron like Trunks and Goten! Trunks strong and Goten funny!"

She began to tell him stories about how she adored him and Goten: their fight at the World Tournament, fusion into Gotenks, when they took her flying over the ocean near her house a few days ago, and other fun moments about them she could remember. Trunks chuckled at her innocence. Who knew this baby who had been crying like a banshee earlier could be this cute? She talked and talked in excitement without end, but he didn't mind; in fact, it slowly made him smile again. Even though it reminded him of his best friend who had been absent since the morning, her positive attitude was just contagious.

However, it seemed she wasn't totally oblivious of what had been taking place after all. Looking slightly worried, she asked, "Goten okay?"

Now he found himself in a more difficult situation than before. She was asking about the well-being of one of her idols; how could he break the terrible news to her? Wouldn't it crush her little heart if he revealed to her that Goten had caught an incurable disease and, to top that, gone missing? Besides, he himself was still struggling to cope with those very truths. Would sweet little lies do for now? He sure hoped so… for Marron's good, and hopefully for his own. And so he did lie, saying as optimistically as he could manage that nothing bad had happened to Goten.

"Then why Trunks cry?"

Her words took him by surprise. Was he crying? Yes. He didn't realise his tears had been welling from his eyes. This was embarrassing! What was there to be sad about, anyway? Oh, of course, it had to be Goten's illness. He had been trying hard to hide his sadness from everyone, his true emotions hidden behind the walls and iron bars of his pride, but of all times, why did they have to break right now?

"Trunks cry because Goten gone?"

Some other words that seemed like an iron stake being driven right through his heart. Toddlers didn't lie, and it held true even in this case. Marron was really telling the truth. Trunks felt his vision become blurrier and blurrier as unpleasant memories of yesterday suddenly surged into his mind: finding out about Goten's heart disease, trying his best to help his mother treat him, flying here, overhearing Goku and Chichi, learning about where Goten had caught the dreaded virus from, getting extremely angry at Gohan for that, being forgiven by him, and finally and the worst of all, losing Goten despite his promise to watch over him for the night.

"Marron miss Goten."

And it proved to be the final straw that broke the camel's back. Tears began to stream down Trunks's cheeks and he couldn't help but to let it all out. He started sobbing; he tried with all his might not to completely burst out and cry, but the sobs were worse than when he learned about his father's death around a week ago. He broke down. He felt miserable.

"I m-miss him too, Marron," said the little prince between his sobs, "I-I don't think I can—sniff—make it without him."

"But Trunks strong! Trunks can!" she retorted with a confused expression.

"No, Marron! I'm not strong!" he snapped. He wasn't sure if he should continue. There was something that compelled him to just spill it out, but his pride still wouldn't let him. To admit that he wasn't strong? What would his father say about this? But now that he had let Marron see his true self, he couldn't care less. After all, she was just a little child. "It's… it's him who's strong. I'm not. It's Goten."

"Trunks? Why?"

Trunks took a deep breath despite still sobbing. "Goten's the one who always pushed us ahead. He always believed in me, even when I myself started to give up," he began. He wasn't sure if it felt good, but he felt it was a good thing to let it out now that he had a by-chance confidante. "He's… he's actually the leader between us. You remember when… Majin Buu got onto the Lookout?" he asked and gained a terrified nod from the girl, "I could've sworn… that time, when we entered the Time Chamber, I had given up all hopes of winning… but Goten, after his mom was killed by that monster… he was determined to beat him. He encouraged me to be better, too…"

"And after that, when we fought him as Gotenks… perhaps you couldn't tell, but inside Gotenks, Goten was… more dominant. It was like… he was on fire. Also, when we felt like we were about to lose… there was this part of Gotenks which just refused to give up. That part was him… it was Goten. He had gotten even stronger than me, Marron."

Much to his surprise, he had confided all those secrets he had buried deep inside, far from reach of others—even Goten himself, to Marron. But somehow it felt good. By sharing it with someone he felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from him. "Without him, I'm not as strong as you saw… I miss him, Marron. Man, I really hope he's okay…"

Silence rang across the air as Trunks finished, and the only sound one could hear was the muffled sobs of the boy. He wasn't even sure if Marron could understand what he had said, but what mattered to him was that he had let it all out. His defences had been shattered, and when he finally got to cry the truth for the world to hear, he felt light. If there was something new he had learned today, it was admittance. Of course, he wasn't about to go around and tell people about it, though; how would his father react upon finding out? This was between him and Marron, and he was quite sure Marron was too little to divulge everything that had happened today.

"Mama say miracles happen when you believe," Marron finally spoke, breaking the quiet.

"What… do you mean?"

"Trunks believe Goten okay?"

Trunks was shocked at her question. Did she even have to ask? "I want to believe, Marron… no, I believe he is! Of course I do, he must be!"

"Marron don't know where Goten now, but Marron believe Goten okay!" she exclaimed very cheerfully, "If Trunks believe too, then Goten okay!"

Marron's innocent positivity amazed Trunks so much he was at loss of words. Miracles? He never believed in such things, but perhaps it had been real all along. After all, what was Goten to him if not a miracle? What had he done to deserve someone who always stood by him in joy and sadness, in hope and despair, and even in life and death? Nothing. He didn't deserve Goten's immaculate friendship, but he obtained it nonetheless. If you couldn't classify it as a miracle, then what was it?

"Believe, huh?" he said and gained the little girl's nod of approval. Slowly, his sadness was replaced by hope, his sobs subsided, and his grimace gradually turned into a sincere smile. "Okay, I guess. I believe everything's gonna turn out just fine."

"Yay! So Trunks and Goten okay?" Marron jumped up and down in excitement. The prospect of seeing her idols getting together again was drawing her into a euphoric state. "And Trunks and Goten play together again?"

The proud boy grinned, walked toward the happy little toddler, and ruffled her hair. "I believe so, Marron."

* * *

><p>"We can't find him anywhere," said Chichi. She looked extremely distressed and lethargic after more than six hours of search which yielded no result, and was ready to burst out in tears. "Goten, my baby! Where are you?"<p>

Gohan could only nod in agreement, an extremely sullen expression painted on his face, "I can't feel him around the mountains either. Little brother… please, come back…"

The Z-fighters were all exhausted from their search for Goten. They had scoured every corner of Mount Paozu with no result. There had been no signs of him whatsoever, and with his health rapidly deteriorating, they were in a very dire race against time. To top that, nobody was able to sense his power level, not only Gohan. There was really no way to find out where he was, and with the Dragon Balls inert—initially, much to Trunks's chagrin—everybody knew they couldn't rule out the worst possible outcome. But would they be able to cope with it?

"It's getting dark. Being foolhardy won't make things any better," said Piccolo, who then suggested that they continue the search tomorrow. Knowing there was no other choice, Goku sighed and reluctantly complied, then thanked the Z-fighters for their effort.

"Trunks, I know you can be counted on in taking care of Marron," Bulma said dejectedly, "Now, let's go home and—"

"I'm gonna find Goten," the boy interjected. His response to his mother earned him surprised looks from the others in the vicinity, who stared at him as though he had grown a second head.

"What?" Vegeta growled from his position, "Wake up, boy. That brat is nowhere to be found! What makes you think you can find him if we couldn't?"

Goku approached Trunks and said as gently as he could manage, "Your father's right, Trunks. And you have no idea how dangerous the mountain could get after dark."

He didn't care. Trunks then shot a glance to Marron—she had been a spark of hope in his darkness today, and he was extremely thankful of her; she was also a miracle, when he thought about it further—who was being cradled by her mother, and she produced a huge grin while letting out a happy "yay!". Eighteen and Krillin were, of course, left in confusion by their little exchange. "Trunks find Goten!" she exclaimed.

Trunks gave her a victory sign and mumbled a silent "thank you". Then, with steadfast resolve he approached his father and, before taking off into the sky with his newfound faith, said to him in a very assured tone,

"Because I believe I can. And I will."


End file.
